Carolina Maranon-Cobos, IAS Programming Manager
As the academic year winds down, I’ve been sitting with a lot—gratitude, grief, fire in my gut. It feels important to take a moment to reflect on what we built together through the 2024-25 (In)Justice Series on Just Policing, presented in partnership with the Sawyer Seminar on Just Policing: Transnational Perspectives on the Definition and Possibility of Justice in Law Enforcement.
Our planning journey began back in 2022 and now, over the past year, we’ve brought together scholars, artists, activists, and community leaders to ask hard questions about what justice really means—and what it might look like today, in the mess of the world we’re living in.
We are living through a time defined by deep division, fear-mongering, and violence—from the streets of Minneapolis to Gaza to campus protests being met with militarized force. As a Mexican immigrant and a new United States citizen, I’ve been holding the weight of all of it—my own stories, my roots, and the realities of the community I now call home.
Minneapolis is still in mourning. Still carrying the trauma of George Floyd’s murder. Still carrying the truth that violence against Black and brown bodies is not an exception—it’s a pattern. We’re surrounded by the scars of injustice. So when we—the IAS and our partners—imagined this series, we didn’t want another lecture. We wanted a space where people could feel. Think. Connect. Grieve. Imagine.
Every event was an invitation: not just to listen, but to wrestle. To wonder what transformation might look like if we started from the truth of people’s lived experience. We talked about policing, yes, but also about everything it touches: generational poverty, racial violence, the erasure of Indigenous histories, the criminalization of protest and migration, the stories we’ve been told about safety and who deserves it.
I was cracked open by these conversations. Our speakers were bold. Unfiltered. Vulnerable. They shared truths that don’t fit neatly into headlines or policy briefs. They showed us that justice isn’t a blueprint—it’s a relationship. It’s a commitment to honoring people, to listening, to staying with the discomfort long enough to imagine something different.
There were moments this year that will stay with me forever. Feeling the drumbeats of María Isa vibrate through our bodies. Bearing witness to the endlessly moving work of Memorialize the Movement. Learning from grassroots organizers who are building new futures from the ground up. Listening to the fire and brilliance of people who refuse to be reduced or reduce people to data points or case studies.
Whether we were gathered in Northrop or tuning in from home, we shared a lot—grief, anger, awe, hope. And somehow, we left those spaces more connected. More committed. More determined to rebuild what’s been broken.
Looking back, one thing is clear: the work is nowhere near done. But if there’s anything we can all learn from this year, it’s that these conversations matter. They change people. They build trust. They create momentum. And they remind us that, even in the hardest moments, hope is not naive—it’s necessary.
To everyone who showed up—to speak, to witness, to ask questions, to challenge, to dream with us—thank you. You’ve become part of our story. Part of my story.
At the IAS, we’re proud to be celebrating 20 years of holding space for critical conversations, for complexity, for community. And we’re just getting started. Stay connected. Stay loud. Stay hopeful.
There’s more to come.
What Others Are Saying
We are immensely grateful to all our collaborators and every attendee—in person and online—who made this series so meaningful.
Our faculty planning partners from the Sawyer Seminar shared their hopes for the series’ ripple effects. Many others—panelists and audience members alike—shared with us the importance of having the IAS as a safe space to host these complicated conversations. As our speakers reflected on the series, they continued to offer their own varied perspectives on what transformation might look like as we, as a community, work together toward justice. Thank you for joining us for an incredible year!
